You needn"t cook any dinner, for there"s a good, cold lunch. I made a nice custard pie for you, last night, after you were asleep. There"s plenty of bread and b.u.t.ter, an extra bottle of milk, and you may cut a few thin slices of the boiled ham. Be sure to do it carefully, for we will have to live upon it for as long as possible. If you tell Mrs.
Bruce that the invitation is from me I think she"ll let Mabel come.
Don"t leave the house without locking up tight, and after you come back from Sunday school don"t leave it at all. Have you learned your lesson?
Already? My! but you are quick at your books! Good-bye. I hope you"ll have a happy day, and you may expect me sometime in the afternoon."
"But, mother, wait! There"s a cl.u.s.ter of my fairy-roses out in bloom and I want to send them to father. A deep red sort that hasn"t blossomed before and that we"ve been watching so long. I"ll fill it with kisses, tell him, and almost want to get half-sick again, myself, to be back in hospital with him. Aren"t you going to take him any of that nice ham?
You know he loves it so."
"No, dear. I was specially told not to bring food. The nurses will give him all he needs and that"s better for him than anything we outside folks could fix. Afterwards--Well, let us hope we shall still have decent stuff to eat! Now I"m off. Good-bye. Be careful and don"t get into any sort of foolishness. Good-bye."
Dorothy gazed after her mother as she disappeared and felt a strange desire to call her back, or beg to go with her. The house was so empty and desolate without the cheerful presence of the postman. Their Sunday mornings had used to be so happy. Then he was at liberty to walk with her in the park near-by, if it were cold weather; or if the lovely season for gardening, as now they repaired to the little back yard which their united labors had made to "blossom like the rose."
John Chester had bought No. 77 Brown Street. It was not yet much more than half paid for, but he considered it his. Martha was the most prudent of housekeepers and could make a little money go a long way; so that, even though his salary was small, they managed each month to lay aside a few dollars toward reducing the mortgage which still remained on the property. But he had not waited to be wholly out of debt to begin his improvements, and the first of these had been to turn the bare ground behind the house into a charming garden. Not an inch of the s.p.a.ce, save that required for paths and a tiny shed for ash and garbage cans, was left untilled; and as Baltimore markets afford most beautiful plants at low rates he had gathered a fine collection. Better than that, there were stables at the rear, instead of the negro-alleys which intersect so many of the city blocks, and from these he not only obtained extra soil but stirred his stable friends to emulate his industry. Vines and ivies had been planted on the stable walls as well as on his own back fence, so that, instead of looking out upon ugly brick and whitewash, the neighbors felt that they possessed a sort of private park behind their dwellings, and all considered father John a public benefactor and rejoiced in the results of his efforts. Many of them, too, were stirred--like the stable-men--to attempt some gardening on their own account, and this was not only good for them but made the one-hundred-block of Brown Street quite famous in the town.
Dorothy had visited the garden that morning before breakfast and had found the new roses which were the latest addition to their stock. She had also shed a few tears over them, realizing that he who had planted them would watch them no more.
"Dear little "fairies"! seems if you just blossom for nothing, now!"
she had said to them, then had resolved that they should go to him since he could not come to them; and, having cut them, she fled the garden, missing him more there than anywhere.
Once Dorothy C. would have been ashamed to appear among her cla.s.smates, in their Sunday attire, wearing her slitted shoes; but to-day her mind was full of other, far more important, matters. So she bore their raillery with good nature, laughed by way of answer, and was so impatient to be at home, where she could discuss all with her chum, that she could hardly wait to obtain Mrs. Bruce"s consent to the visit. So, as soon as the two girls were cozily settled in the little parlor, she exclaimed:
"Mabel Bruce! I"ve something perfectly wonderful to tell you. Do you know--_I"m an_--_heiress_!"
"No. I don"t know, nor you either," returned Mabel, coolly; rocking her plump body to and fro in the postman"s own chair, and complacently smoothing her ruffles. Then she leaned forward, glanced from her own feet to Dorothy"s, and carefully dusted her white shoes with her handkerchief.
The little hostess laughed, but remarked, a trifle tartly:
"That"s what I call nasty-nice. Next time you"ll be wiping your nose on that same thing and I"d rather have the dust on my shoes than in my nostrils. But no matter. I"ve so many things to tell you I don"t know where to begin!"
"Don"t you? Well, then, you"re such a terrible talker when you get started, s"pose we have our dinner first. I"m terrible hungry."
"Hungry, Mabel Bruce? Already? Didn"t you have your breakfast?"
"Course, I did. But a girl can"t eat once and make it last all day, can she?"
"I reckon _you_ can"t. You"re the greatest eater I ever did see. All the girls say so. That"s why you"re always put on the refreshment committee at our picnics. Even Miss Georgia says: "If you want to be sure of enough provision make Mabel chairman." A chairman is the boss of any particular thing, if you don"t know:" instructed this extremely frank hostess.
"Oh! course I know. You just said I was one and folks most gen"ally know what they are themselves, I guess," answered the plumber"s daughter, without resentment. What anybody _said_ didn"t matter to phlegmatic Mabel so long as their _doing_ agreed with her desires. She was fond of Dorothy C. Oh! yes, she was sincerely fond as well as proud! The Chesters were bringing up their daughter very nicely, her mother declared, and that Dorothy had the prettiest manners of all the girls who came to their house. Mabel had her own opinion of those manners, of which she had just had a specimen, but she never contradicted her mother and not often her playmates. As a rule she was too lazy, and was only moved to dispute a statement when it was really beyond belief--like that of her chum"s having suddenly become an "heiress." Heiresses were rich.
Mabel wasn"t very wise but she knew that, and witness Dorothy"s ragged shoes. Heiress? Huh! It was more sensible to return to the subject of dinner, for the visitor had sampled Mrs. Chester"s cooking before now and knew it to be excellent. So she rose and started for the kitchen, and with an exclamation of regret the hostess followed the guest, though cautioning her:
"If we eat our lunch now, at a little after eleven o"clock, you mustn"t expect another dinner at one. My mother didn"t say I could have two meals, so you better eat dreadful slow and make it last."
"All right. I will. Maybe, too, I"ll go home by our own dinner time.
Sundays, that isn"t till after two o"clock, "cause my mother goes to church and has to cook it afterward. Sunday is the only day my father is home to dinner, so he wants a big one and mother gets it for him. Your father"s home Sundays, too, isn"t he?"
"He--he was--He used----" began Dorothy, then with a sudden burst of tears turned away and hid her face in her hands.
Warm-hearted, if always-hungry, Mabel instantly threw her arms about her friend"s waist and tried to comfort her with loving kisses and the a.s.surance:
"He will be again, girlie. Don"t you worry. Folks go to hospitals all the time and come back out of them. My father, he had the typhoid fever, last year, and he went. Don"t you remember? and how nice all the neighbors were to me and ma. And now he"s as strong--as strong! So"ll your father be, too, and go whistling round the block just like he used to did. Don"t cry, Dorothy C. It makes your eyes all funny and--and besides, if you don"t stop I"ll be crying myself, in a minute, and I don"t want to. _I_ look perfectly horrid when I cry, I get so red and puffy, and I shouldn"t like to cry on this dress. It"s just been done up and ma says I"ve got to keep it clean enough to wear four Sundays, it"s such a job to iron all the ruffles."
Despite her loneliness Dorothy laughed. There was a deal of consideration for herself in Mabel"s remarks, yet her sympathy was sincere as her affection long-proved. She had been the first playmate of the little foundling, and it was her belief--gathered from that of her parents--that the Chesters" adopted child would turn out to be of good birth, if ever the truth were known. In any case, she was the prettiest and cleverest girl in school, and Mabel was proud to be the one selected this morning as a companion.
"O you funny Mabel!" cried Dorothy. "You"re sorry for both of us, aren"t you! Well, come along. We started to get lunch and to talk. You go to the ice-box and get the things, while I set the table. Wait! Put on my tie-before, to keep your dress clean. Good thing your sleeves are short.
Arms"ll wash easier than ruffles. Hurry up--you to eat and I to talk."
Very shortly they were engaged in these congenial matters, though Mabel almost forgot that she was hungry in her astonishment at Dorothy"s opening statement:
"We"re going to move. I guess this is about the last time you"ll ever come to this house to dinner."
"Going--to--move!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mabel, with her mouth so full of pie that she could hardly speak.
"Yes. We"ve got to pack up this very week."
"Where to? Who"s going to live here? Who told you? Why?" demanded Mabel, hastening to get in as many questions as she could, during the interval of arranging a sandwich for herself.
"I don"t--know! Why I never thought to ask, but I know it"s true because it was my mother told me. "Into the country," she said, "cause the hospital folks say that"s the only thing for my father to do if he wants to get well. And of course he wants. We all want, more than anything else in the world. So, that"s why, and that"s the first piece of news.
And say, Mabel, maybe your folks"ll let you come and see me sometimes.
That is, if my folks ask you," she added, with cautious afterthought.
"Maybe! Wouldn"t that be just lovely? We"d go driving in a little T-cart, all by ourselves, with a dear little pony to haul us, and--and peaches and plums and strawberries and blackberries--Um!" exclaimed the prospective guest, compressing her lips as if she were already tasting these delights.
"I--don"t--know. Perhaps, we would. If we had the pony, and the cart, and were let. That"s a lot of "ifs" to settle first."
"Why, of course. I was in the country once, two whole weeks. It was to a big house where my father was putting the plumbing in order for the family and the family had gone away while he was doing it. It was there he got the typhoid fever, and they went away because they didn"t want to get it. They left some "c.o.o.ns" to do the cooking and told my father he could bring me and ma, and we could have a vacation in a cottage on the place. So we did; and the man, the colored one, that took care of the horses used to hitch the pony up to the T-cart and me and ma rode out every day. Course, if you live in the country you"ll have to have a pony. How else"d you go around? There wasn"t any street cars to that country, "at ever I saw, and folks can"t walk all the roads there are.
Pooh! You see, I"ve been and you haven"t, and that"s the difference."
"Yes, you"ve been and I haven"t, but, Mabel Bruce, I know more about things that grow than you do, for I know--even in Lexington Market--you don"t get strawberries and peaches at the same time. So you needn"t expect all those good things when you come. You"ll have to put up with part at a time, with whatever happens to be in our garden. If we have a garden! And as for ponies, our house in the country won"t be a big one, like yours was, that much I know, too. We haven"t any money, hardly. My mother Martha was crying about that yesterday, though she didn"t know I saw her till I asked and after I"d spent all those two dollars for these silly shoes. Mabel Bruce, don"t you ever go buy shoes too small for you.
Umm. I tell you if you do your feet"ll hurt you worse than my head did after I banged it--the dog banged it--on Mrs. Cecil"s stoop. Isn"t she a funny old woman? My father thinks she is the wisest one he knows, but I--I--Well, it doesn"t count what I think. Only if I was as rich as she, and I expect I will be sometime, I wouldn"t keep Great Dane dogs to jump on little girls like she does. Have some more ham, Mabel?"
The mere thought of her prospective wealth had increased Dorothy"s hospitality--at her mother"s expense: but to her surprise her guest replied:
"No--I guess--I guess I can"t. Not "less you"ve got some mustard mixed somewhere, to eat on it. I"ve et----"
"Eaten," corrected her cla.s.smate, who was considered an expert in grammar.
"Et-ten about all I can hold without--without mustard, to sort of season it. Ma always has mustard to put on her ham; and yours is--is getting sort of--bitter," replied Mabel, leaning back in her chair. She always ate rapidly--"stuffed," as her father reproved her--and to-day she had outdone herself. The food was delicious. Mrs. Chester was too thrifty a housewife ever to "spoil" anything, no matter how inexpensive a dish, and in her judgment, boiled ham was a luxury, to be partaken of sparingly and with due appreciation, never "gobbled."
Therefore it was with positive consternation that Dorothy"s thoughts came back to practical things and to the joint which she had placed before her guest, allowing her to carve. Though she had herself barely tasted the morsel placed upon her own plate, being too much engaged in talking, she now perceived that Mabel had done more than justice to her lunch. So it was with a cry of real distress that she s.n.a.t.c.hed the dish from the table, exclaiming:
"Well, I guess you don"t need mustard to sharpen your appet.i.te, you greedy thing! Beg pardon. That was a nasty thing to say to--to company, and I"m sorry I said it. But mother told me we had to live on that ham most the week, she"d be so much too busy to cook and--Why, Mabel Bruce!
You"ve eaten almost half that pie, too! Hmm. I guess you can stay contented the rest the day. You won"t need to go home to your two-o"clock dinner!"
No offense was intended or received. These two small maids had been accustomed, from infancy, to utter frankness with one another, and with perfect amiability the guest replied:
"Maybe I do eat a little too much. Ma thinks I do, sometimes, and pa says that"s the reason I"m so fat. I"d rather not be fat. I"d like to be as slim as you are, Dorothy C. Ma says you"ve got such a pretty figure "t you look nice in anything. Well, I guess since I"ve got to keep my dress so clean for so long, I won"t offer to help do the dishes. I"ll go sit in the parlor and take care of the front of the house."
With that Miss Mabel took off her friend"s "tie-before," a big gingham ap.r.o.n which covered all her skirts, and hung it on its nail, then retreated to the postman"s rocker, at perfect peace with herself and all the world.
Not so Dorothy C. She looked after her chum with a contempt that was as new as it was uncomfortable. She had promised herself a real treat in discussing her own affairs--for the first time in her life become important ones--with this reliable confidante, but now she was bitterly disappointed. "Mabel is selfish, but Mabel is truthful. She never speaks ill of another and she always keeps her word:" had been Miss Georgia"s decision once, when some cla.s.s matters had gone wrong and the plumber"s daughter had been accused of "tattling." To this Dorothy now added: "And Mabel is a regular, gluttonous simpleton. She isn"t really interested in anybody except--Mabel!"